Stanesby

Thomas Stanesby senior, was born in 1668 in Moorly Lyme, Derbyshire. Little is known about him, apart from the existence of 20 of his instruments (eleven recorders), some of them of superb quality. He established his workshop in London and was succeeded by his son after he died in 1734.

The recorders were then stamped Stanesby junior. My alto recorder after Stanesby senior is also based on an equally well known recorder from the same collection. Used by Frans Brüggen for unforgettable recordings, it has a very low pitch which offers the possibilities of a model in 392Hz. Even with a modern pitch of 440Hz, it still has a very warm and full tonal character. The voice flute cannot be seen as being a copy, because there are not any original instruments with the same perfection as the alto recorders.

Structurally the voice flute has a typical baroque bore based on other recorders from Stanesby. It has a warm, loud and convincing tone, especially in the lower range, combined with a perfect intonation. It can be considered, without question, to be the ideal voice flute.